PLANTS SAVE WATER

Since the 11th Plan, it was buzzing loud. Corporate Social Responsibilities were being spelt out in various syllables all over the country. The 12th Plan is all set to spell out term & conditions in corporate functioning in entire country. CSRV New Service examines the current status being practiced in the country.

IOC refinery takes up localdevelopment schemes

Bongaigaon Refinery (BGR) of Indian Oil Corporation has decided to distribute 200 solar lamps to Class X and XII students of 10 villages to provide them solar-power light to study during evening hours.

At Sonapur village in Chirang district the BGR would start a sanitation project covering ten villages after conducting a baseline survey through an NGO called ANT. This is the secondsanitation move of the refinery, a press report said. On earlier occasions, the refinery constructed 314 sanitation units in another ten villages in two phases for providing hygienic facilities to the target rural audience.

At nearby Birhanggaon, a Bodoland Community Hall called 'Bodoland Darbar Hall' was inaugurated in presence of eminent citizens of the village and students of neighbouring schools. It is an attempt to promote local culture, social harmony, and ethnicity, for which the BDR spent Rs 10.20 lakh for construction of the hall.

Plants for safe water

Dhenkanal: The CSR arm of Lanco Foundation which owns Lanco Infratech Ltd, celebrated the World Water Day by inaugurating its third Safe Drinking Water Plant (RO + UV) recently at Chintapokhori village of Motonga panchayat. It is a community drinking water plant. Some 600 odd households of villages around would be getting safe drinking water from this project. The company has also started an awareness programme among people of villages around about water quality. The programme is a continual process of children's activities in the villages around.

It was a grand celebration of the Day as the company is mulling continual campaigns “to raise awareness about sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being” through addressing the challenges of water quality, said a report. The company has targeted the communities in the nearby panchayats “to engage in proactive addressing water quality e.g. in pollution prevention, clean up and restoration of water”, the report continued.

Golden Peacock Award

CSR Excellence both in Public and Private Sectors

NTPC wins

NTPC has been felicitated with Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Social Responsibility2012 for its CSR plans to further social commitment. The award was accorded by a panel of eminent jury chaired by former Chief Justice of India P.N. Bhagwati.

The award, instituted in 1991 the Institute of Directors, New Delhi, is given every year for boosting industries and encouraging them to return to the society a part of what companies acquire from it. India's manufacturing success since the recent past has been attributed to the competition fostered by the award. According to the concept, the short listed companies must show and do absolute positive intent of what should it return to the society from which it develops its own assets and fortune. All public, private, non-profit, government, business, manufacturing and service sector companies are invited to apply for theyear’s Golden Peacock Award,given annually, which is determined

through nomination.

It is a leadership award. The award aims to provide not only worldwide recognition but it also embodies a salubrious recognition to the nominated company for creating competitive advantage in driving business in today's difficult world. The award has built upphenomenal interest among companies. It has made them possible to attain world class recognition and status. NTPC is lauded for its commitment and vision.

Lanco wins

Lanco Group's CSR contribution to the community development has earned recognition from the international Quality worlds. A jury comprising accomplished professionals headed by Justice PN Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India and a member of the UN Human Rights Commission, selected Lanco Infratech, among others, for the Golden Peacock Award 2012 for boosting brand image and encourage sharing values initiatives and rich experiences with the corporate sector.

The award was created in 1992 by the Institute of Directors (IOD) to create a sense of competition and celebrate the achievements of the winners. The award is recognised worldwide for recognizing achievements of those

who create sustainable business by providing product, services and opportunities to improve quality of life to people around.

Other organizations awarded were NTPC and Oil India Limited in Energy section,SBI in Banking, Vodafone India in Communication, and ICICI Lombard in Insurance sections.

NTPC to set up Engineering College as CSR at Korba

New Delhi: Probably smarted up by the CAG's recent reports on the CPSEs CSR lag, NTPC has decided to set up an engineering college at Korba, Chhattisgarh. The cost has been estimated to be about Rs 10 crore, Rs 9 crore of which has already been accumulated by the NTPC's Korba unit. On Sunday, May 20, the unit's General Manager S K Roy handed over to Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh a cheque ofRs 1 crore to complete estimated corpus so that the necessary infrastructure for the college can be constructed.

NTPC is generally in the news for CSR activities, but most of these have been one-time ad hoc charities. The college is the first project with a sustained mission for community development. However, its commitment did not fully capacitate during the last three fiscals, beginning 2009-2010. According to a report, the most admired Maharatna of the country has been able to spend less than49% of its CSR budget. The reason probably is lack or ignorance of appropriate concept about CSRin its corporate governance.

Powergrid enters CSR domains

Kolkata: Powergrid has decided to train youths from economically weaker ST, SC families in West Bengal into skills development training for self-engaged and gainful employment.

The project has been envisaged to be a capacity-building effort to groom unemployed and financially weak youths into skilled performers in food processing, electric wiring, repairing and servicing, sanitary plumbing and two-wheeler repairing and servicing. The beneficiaries include women candidates of the weak financial status.

According to a brief received from the public sector power transmission utility, the candidates shall get a stipend of Rs 2,000 per month and toolkits, while training in the relevant businesses.

The West Bengal Consultancy Organisation Ltd (WEBCON) is a partner in the project. It is still likely that the Navratna company would select the youths from areas where it constructs foot bridges for setting up. If it looks wider,many others would get exposures to skills training.

A MEDICAL COLLAGE for Talchar, CIL's CSR move

Setting up medical facilities is considered to be the best expression of Corporate Social Responsibility in India. It has happened from ages. With growth in population regularly spiralling, requirement for new hospitals, pathological labs, more beds, ambulances, subsidized medicines, state of the art operation theatres and surgical equipment — all have been prioritized, and in most cases justifiably.

Probably keeping the typical Indian CSR benchmark, the Coal India Limited has decided to set up a Medical College at Talcher, says Press Information Bureau.

The CIL has earmarked 5% of its retained earnings of the previous year, subject to minimum of Rs 5 per tonne of coal produced in the previous year, to create the CSR fund.

According to minister of state of coal, Pratik Prakashbapu Patil, who submitted a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha recently, it has been decided that the amount out of the unutilized allocated fund, would be added to the next year's CSR budget. Hence, the entire CSR fund in the CIL has been designed for ameliorated utilization. The Odisha government has been approached to effect clearances for acquisition of required forest lands for the medical college. Incidentally, a medical college is a long popular demand at Talchar region. A medical college would help disadvantaged around.

Sehwag's wields willow'daring to care' girl children

A girl child is equally important for a society as is a male child. An educated girl child shall create an educated family. An educated family contributes to the quality of life in a society. The concept has been dogging Indian icon cricketer Virender Sehwag for quite sometime. So much was he engrossed in the thought that he elicited Unicef's offer of a partnership with his Delhi Daredevils. Recently, in Delhi a 'Dare to Care' campaign has been launched with the Unicef with a view to sensitizing people on how potentials the girls have to play in a society. Therefore, both education and protection must be ensured to girl children, the campaign's aims envisage.

The job was not easy for Sehwag, as he was supposed to be pitted immediately against the fundamentalist views about girl child and women in the society. Says Virender, “This is an honour to be associated with a campaign which fights for empowering the adolescent girls of India.The entire team along with the management of the Delhi Daredevils is excited about the campaign. Since this cause is so close to our hearts, we shall do anything to make it a successful initiative.”

Karin Hulshof, Unicef's permanent representative in India, agrees, “Delhi Daredevils have a huge and very loyal crowd of supporters. In partnering with the Daredevils we are looking forward to hearing millions of voices speaking out for girls in India. With the 'Dare to Care' campaign we are looking forward to joining hands with the team and calling for boys and girls to transform India.”

The current stat I India is awesome. Over 40% adolescent girls of 14-17 agegroup do not attend school. About 40% girls in India still marry before the lawful age of 18 and around 56% of adolescent girls are anemic. Girls suffer shoddy academic opportunities, poor healthcare, social ostracism against male children in families, and regular atrocities of various kinds in the length and breadth of the country.

The partnership aims to commencentrate in villages to begin with. It shall work in the areas of obstacles in adolescent girls' lives, stop and punish discrimination, exploitation and abuse on their sex, besides empowering them with adequate education as much as they would go for.

About the author

CSR VISION is India's (probably World's) first monthly magazine in print devoted to CSR and Sustainable Development for bringing together all stakeholders of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT at a global and local levels and act as a platform for promoting strategic CSR and sustainable development practices through dissemination of information and knowledge.